Chapter 31

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Chapter 31: The Deal

Just as Lou Yun was about to summon the Fusang Fire for a final stand, a human voice suddenly came over: "Clan Head, the explosion sounds earlier came from here."

"Mhm, everyone be careful. This is already the territory of Intermediate Demon Beasts."

Hearing that voice from behind, Lou Yun’s heart finally relaxed. He gave a light, wry chuckle, his head lolled to the side, and he passed out completely.

It was naturally Lou Tianzhi and the others. They had come to Tianliang Forest and discovered that the energy barrier had been broken from the outside. Someone had clearly entered the forest. They came in to search but found no trace along the way until they heard the earth-shattering explosion moments ago and rushed to this spot.

When they rounded a large tree and saw the scene of devastation before them, they were all stunned. The scale of the destruction looked like a fierce battle had been fought here by over a hundred people.

At that moment, someone suddenly pointed in a certain direction, his expression instantly turning excited. He opened his mouth: "Look, look, look!"

After saying "look" three times in a row, everyone’s gaze was naturally drawn there. They saw half a demon beast corpse on the ground, and leaning against the carcass was a youth whose eyes were closed but whose face wore a faint smile.

Finally, someone cried out: "It’s, it’s Young Master Yun!"

Lou Tianzhi’s heart gave a heavy thump. His figure flashed, instantly arriving beside Lou Yun. He quickly bent down to examine Lou Yun’s condition. Upon seeing it, his heart finally settled; these were symptoms of Lou Yun suffering from extreme spiritual energy depletion. Although slightly injured, it shouldn’t be serious.

Lou Tianzhi never imagined that the person who broke the barrier was actually Lou Yun, and from the scene before him, not only had Lou Yun entered Tianliang Forest, but he had also killed a demon beast.

"Clan Head, this dead one is an intermediate one-star demon beast, the Three-horned Rhinoceros!" The Lou Family member checking the situation had determined the demon beast’s rank and name from the corpse’s condition.

However, the people nearby gave simultaneous starts of fright upon hearing this. Forgetting the clan head was right there, they immediately began murmuring quietly amongst themselves.

"What? Three-horned Rhinoceros? That thing’s fast, has high defense, tremendous strength – a super hard beast to kill!"

"Then… that was killed by Young Master Yun?"

"No way! Young Master Yun actually killed an intermediate one-star demon beast? How, how strong would he have to be for that?"

At that moment, Lou Tianzhi suddenly noticed Lou Yun’s right fist was clenched tightly. Probing with his spiritual sense, he found it held a beast soul!

Lou Tianzhi nodded. This nephew Yun’er had obviously come for the beast soul, but his audacity was too great! Breaking the barrier was one thing, but to actually dare venture into an Intermediate Demon Beast’s territory? He was practically gambling with his life!

Luckily it turned out alright, otherwise he wouldn’t know how to explain it to his elder brother!

Just as Lou Tianzhi was deep in thought, someone said softly, "Clan Head, shouldn’t we hurry and take Young Master Yun back? This is, after all, the territory of Intermediate Demon Beasts. If other beasts arrive, things will get troublesome!"

Lou Tianzhi looked at Lou Yun, who was sleeping soundly, and smiled lightly. "No rush. Yun’er just lost consciousness. Moving him now would easily startle him awake. Let him rest a bit first; we’ll leave later."

He paused briefly, then continued, "Intermediate Demon Beast territory, so what? Yun’er managed to fight and kill a Three-horned Rhinoceros alone. With so many of us here, are we still supposed to be afraid?"

The face of the person who had made the suggestion earlier flushed red. Hesitating for a moment, he still asked with a touch of disbelief, "Clan Head… was this really all done by Young Master Yun alone?"

Lou Tianzhi surveyed the surroundings and nodded. "Mhm. These broken trees were all snapped by the Three-horned Rhinoceros. Besides Yun’er’s traces, there are no signs left by anyone else. It was indeed he who killed it single-handedly."

Hearing the clan head confirm this, no one doubted it anymore. "Heavens! How did Young Master Yun manage that? He’s only a beginner one-star magical weapons master! Yet he killed an intermediate one-star demon beast… this… it’s simply unimaginable!"

Lou Tianzhi offered a slight smile. "Don’t forget. Yun’er is a genius. Anything, absolutely anything, is possible with him."

Lou Yun slept for an entire day and night before waking again. Opening his eyes, he glanced around and realized he was already back in his own room. His second uncle must have brought him back.

Scanning down, he saw a yellow beast soul lying beside his pillow. Lou Yun immediately rolled over and sat up, grabbing the beast soul into his hand. "This trip wasn’t in vain!"

At that moment, Lou Tianming’s voice came from outside the door: "Yun’er, are you awake?"

"I’m awake!"

Lou Tianming and Lou Tianzhi pushed the door open and entered. Seeing a rare absence of a smile on his father’s face, Lou Yun couldn’t help but secretly stick out his tongue. He knew his father was bound to reprimand him.

Sure enough, Lou Tianming first checked Lou Yun’s physical condition, then launched into a torrent of criticism. The gist was, naturally, scolding Lou Yun for his extreme audacity—daring to run off into Tianliang Forest for no reason, breaking the family barrier, and making the whole clan think something major had happened.

Lou Yun also knew that he had indeed acted quite recklessly this time, so he didn’t dare to talk back, and obediently lowered his head to listen to the reprimand.

Fortunately, Lou Tianzhi hurriedly stepped in to mediate, saying, "Alright, big brother, as long as Yun’er is safe, that’s what matters. He knows he was wrong. Yun’er, will you dare to do it again in the future?"

Since Second Uncle gave him an out, Lou Yun quickly seized the opportunity and said, "I won’t dare! I won’t dare!"

Actually, Lou Tianming couldn’t bear to truly scold Lou Yun; he was merely blaming him for taking too big a risk. Now that Lou Yun had admitted his mistake, of course, he didn’t pursue the matter further.

They chatted idly for a few more words. Lou Tianming told Lou Yun to skip cultivation practice for the day, rest well, and tend to his health, as severe depletion of spiritual energy was quite serious for a magical weapons master, taking several days of recuperation to recover.

Lou Yun naturally didn’t dare to refuse; he could only answer with meek nods.

When the two reached the door, Lou Tianzhi turned around suddenly and said, "Yun’er, you only have a little over two months before you go to the Ancient Weapon Academy. During this time, whatever you need, just take it from the warehouse. I’ve already notified the keepers. And don’t feel embarrassed; you are from the Lou Family. Someday, there will be plenty of occasions for the Lou Family to rely on your contributions!"

"It’s best to go as little as possible to dangerous zones like Tianliang Forest!"

Watching his father and Second Uncle walk out, a warm feeling flowed through Lou Yun’s heart.

Since he had promised his father to rest for the day, he decided to go out for a stroll instead, and incidentally find out how much his beast soul might fetch.

So Lou Yun slipped the beast soul into his pocket and walked out of the house. Along the way, he noticed that clan members who usually treated him with a degree of awe were now greeting him with excited faces, which puzzled him slightly.

He didn’t realize that his adventure of barging into Tianliang Forest and single-handedly killing an intermediate one-star demon beast, the Three-horned Rhinoceros, had already spread throughout the Lou Family. Now, the clanspeople not only genuinely accepted Lou Yun but even revered him as the hero and hope of the Lou Family, so their attitude had understandably shifted.

Lou Yun arrived on the streets of Lingjiang City, pondered momentarily, and then headed toward the Lin Family’s business district.

The three great families in Lingjiang City each owned various industries, covering almost everything except common weapons. Naturally, valuable items like beast souls were always bought by each family. At first, Lou Yun wanted to keep the benefit within the family by selling it to his own clan. But on second thought, as a member of the Lou Family, taking money from them felt like fraud, so after weighing his options, he decided to sell it to the Lin Family.

"The Lin Family has apologized to us and wants to show goodwill? Hmph, well, now I’ll see your sincerity!"

Lou Yun ambled his way to the Lin Family’s dedicated business street. The street was bustling with pedestrian traffic and great commotion. Uninterested in window-shopping, he beelined straight for the specialized demon beast shop.

Demon beast shops dealt exclusively with all things demon beasts: their acquisition and sale. Besides beast souls, demon beasts had many valuable parts, like hides, tendons, and teeth. For instance, the three horns and hide from the Three-horned Rhinoceros Lou Yun had killed—some items were used in medicine, others in forging weapons, and all could be sold here. Even the demon beasts themselves were traded as merchandise.

Actually, any shop tied to magical weapons masters would purchase special items like beast souls and spiritual crystals. However, demon beast shops offered higher buying prices, and there, one didn’t necessarily have to sell for cash; exchanges for items of equivalent value were possible.

Lou Yun didn’t plan to sell the beast soul for money this time. Since he was experimenting with forging a primary common weapon, he needed a large number of primary beast souls. Therefore, he intended to trade the intermediate beast soul he held for some primary ones.

Stepping into the beast soul shop, the number of customers inside wasn’t high. Though beast souls were quality goods, not everyone could afford or wanted them. Typically, buyers were skilled weapon makers or pharmacists.

A shop assistant approached with a broad grin, saying to Lou Yun, "Young Master Yun is truly a rare visitor! To grace our shop. Please come in, please come quick."

Hearing that the other recognized his identity, Lou Yun couldn’t help feeling a bit startled. But on careful thought, he grasped it: every family employed people specifically for marketplace security. Being somewhat well-known in Lingjiang City now, he must have been spotted by the Lin Family the moment he stepped onto this street, and warnings had likely been relayed to every store.

Nodding, Lou Yun went straight to the point and said, "I have a beast soul here and wish to trade it for some things?"

These shop assistants dealt with varied clients daily and were all smooth and tactful sorts, so naturally, they didn’t pry about why Lou Yun had skipped the Lou Family shops and come specifically to the Lin Family’s instead.

The shop assistant nodded and said, "No problem. Please take a seat. I’ll fetch our shopkeeper!"

Soon after, a short, plump, middle-aged man walked over with a wide smirk, declaring, "Young Master Lou gracing us with his presence! My humble apologies for the delay!"

After a brief exchange of niceties, Lou Yun directly pulled the beast soul from his robe and passed it to the shopkeeper.

To hold a position as shopkeeper here required sharp judgment, so after a swift inspection, he identified the beast soul’s rank, "Intermediate one-star. Hmm, Young Master Lou, do you prefer to sell for money or trade for items?"

An intermediate one-star beast soul, though a tier above primary ones, was still low-level and not extremely valuable, so the shopkeeper didn’t pay it much mind.

"I’d like to trade it for primary beast souls. How many can I get?"

"Young Master Lou, it seems you aren’t aware of the beast soul exchange ratios. Let me clarify: the rate for intermediate to primary stars spans from one to a hundred down to one to twenty. Simply put, if you choose primary one-stars, you can get a hundred pieces; beginner two-stars, eighty; beginner three-stars, sixty; beginner four-stars, forty; beginner five-stars, twenty pieces."

In his mind, Lou Yun calculated: he didn’t need many beginner one-stars because Xu Yangteng had left some in the ring he gave him. Later on, he’d need to forge higher-grade common weapons, so he should aim for more of beginner three-stars and above.

Just as Lou Yun was about to voice his thoughts and have the shopkeeper calculate the precise rates, suddenly a booming shout came from outside, "Shopkeeper, I have a demon beast here; see how much it’s worth."

Even as he spoke, a man with his upper body wrapped in animal hide walked in, holding a red object about half a foot long in his grip. It kept writhing as if trying to escape, and upon a closer look, its form resembled that of a small mouse.